this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2026
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Sounds interesting:
Lua itself is great, it runs circles around Python in speed even without LuaJIT, and especially the startup time is almost nonexistent, which is important for scripting. Lisp adds convenience like having everything be an expression and the ability to stick an
(if)anywhere for a ternary. And since Lua is so snappy, Fennel has no noticeable overhead. Iirc the Lisp code is compiled to Lua, so long-term there's practically no overhead at all.Although it's been a while since I've used Fennel, so don't remember if it has any nasty limitations.
There's also a similar thing for Python, called Hy.
It does sound interesting, but I was mostly joking just to extend the copypasta.
I don't know enough about programming to know whether it's even suitable for writing a kernel. As far as I'm aware, Lua is mostly used for embedding scripts like in games, but the engines themselves are better written in C or Rust. I would assume a similar concept applies for writing a Kernel.
Perhaps it would have made more sense if I said Fortran or PS-Algol. It would have been more clear that it was a shitpost
I expect it's not suited for kernel, yeah, but it sounds like a fun thing to try other than for kernel stuff
I agree